By Steve Neavling
A county Republican Party in Kentucky removed a Facebook post that called new ATF Director Steven Dettelbach a “Jewish anti-gun activist.”
The post by the Bracken County Republican Party baselessly claimed Dettelbach’s confirmation demonstrated the “Jewish junta” is growing in strength,” The Louisville Courier-Journal reports.
The U.S. Senate last week narrowly approved Dettelbach to serve as the director, making him the agency’s first permanent leader since 2015.
The county posted the conspiracy theory on Friday and quickly drew criticism.
“A Jewish anti-gun activist, Steve Dettelbach, has just been made director of the ATF,” read the Facebook post. “The Jewish junta is getting stronger and more aggressive.”
The county party chairwoman, Karin Kikendol, later criticized the post.
“Earlier today, I was made aware of an inappropriate post on the Bracken County GOP Facebook page,” Kirkendol wrote on Facebook. “That post does not represent the values of the Bracken County Republican Party. It was incredibly insensitive. We will investigate how this occurred and we commit to tighter oversight of our social media going forward.”
Anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories have been growing on the far right since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.
